NYSE Chairman Jeff Sprecher: Bitcoin Will Survive And Is Here To Stay

Jeff Sprecher Bitcoin Is Here To Stay

Bitcoin is steadily getting the embrace of institutional investors. It got the backing of a significant institution’s head on Wall Street this week. Jeff Sprecher is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and CEO of its parent company, Intercontinental Exchange.

He believes cryptocurrencies have a future in regulated markets despite the bear market and negative headlines. When asked about the dip in prices, Sprecher asked rhetorically: “Will digital assets survive?”

“The unequivocal answer is yes,” he said on stage at the Consensus: Invest conference. “As an exchange operator, it’s not our objective to opine on prices.”

The Intercontinental Exchange, along with Microsoft, Starbucks and BCG, is backing a new crypto exchange, Bakkt. The initial launch for Bakkt was set for November 2018, but it has now said it would push that date back to January.

“To give it the best chance for success we pushed it back to the holidays to give people more time to get on board,” Kelly Loeffler, chief executive officer of Bakkt, said about the decision. “It’s a positive indication of the interest, and it gives people time to learn. We have a responsibility to do that, so we’re taking that extra time.”

Bakkt is creating the necessary infrastructure and opportunity for institutional investors to come into the market. The company’s role, as Loeffler explained it, is to provide a platform that’s free from fraud and price manipulation.

Bakkt’s bitcoin futures is said to be settled in bitcoin. That’s unlike existing bitcoin futures on the CME and CBOE, which began trading in December, that pay in cash. The Nasdaq and VanEck are also planning to launch bitcoin futures in the first quarter of 2019.

Bitcoin Will Still Dominate

“Somehow bitcoin has lived in a swamp and survived,” Sprecher said. “There are thousands of other tokens that you could argue are better but yet bitcoin continues to survive, thrive and attract attention.”

He likened bitcoin to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which many believes has flaws but still widely used by investors. Majority of times in finance, it’s not about to be the best. It is all about being the broadest, and most commonly accepted for whatever reason bitcoin has become that.

The price of Bitcoin has jumped by over 15% this week alone since reaching a new 14-month low over the weekend. The Consensus: Invest conference in New York seems to have brought renewed optimism to the market.